January 15th
by angelofstargatesg-1
Summary: In honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (and his brithday) I wrote a story. I hope you enjoy it.


In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I have decided to write a story. This isn't going to be one of regular stories with Sam and Jack mushies all over it. This story stars the one and only Teal'c and the great Dr. Know-It-All-About-The-Past, Daniel. Enjoy. And may God continue to bless America. (And New Jersey!)  
  
yada yada don't own Stargate wish I could blah blah blech  
  
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January 15th  
  
Teal'c looked at the calender that the Tau'ri used to keep track of their days. It was quite confusing to him, especially since they had an easier way of keeping track of time on on Chulak.   
  
Daniel passed his room and noticed Teal'c staring at the wall. He poked his head in, wondering what was going on with his alien friend.  
  
"Hey, Teal'c. What're you doing?"  
  
"Daniel Jackson. I am looking at this hanging that you call a calender that you people of the Tau'ri use to keep track of your days."  
  
"Okay. Got a question to ask me? You look puzzled."  
  
"Indeed I do, Daniel Jackson. Of whom is this calender speaking?" Teal'c pointed to the dates January 15th, and the Monday after that. "Who is this Martin Luther King, Jr.?"  
  
Daniel sighed and walked into Teal'c's room. He motioned for him to take a seat, and then scratched his head, wondering where to begin.  
  
"Well, Teal'c, Martin Luther King, Jr. Was a great man. He lived from 1929-1968. He fought for equal rights- blacks and whites."  
  
"I do not understand, Daniel Jackson. What do you mean when you say 'equal rights for blacks and whites' ?"  
  
Daniel smiled at Teal'c, remembering how he had asked the same questions to his teacher. "While Mr. King was alive, the whites, being people of my skin color hated, or were racist against people of the black skin color, people your color. I don't know why, probably because they were scared or because the blacks' ancestors had once been slaves of the white."  
  
Teal'c nodded, understanding the term "slave." "Why is he on the calender, Daniel Jackson?"  
  
"He's on the calender because of all the great things he did. His civil rights efforts helped to bring about the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964."  
  
"This Nobel Peace Prize- it is a great honor?"  
  
"Yes, Teal'c, it is. It's one of the greatest honors anyone can ever receive."  
  
"I would like to meet this Martin Luther King, Jr. I believe that we would have much to discuss. Where does he abide on this planet?"  
  
Daniel's eyes watered slightly, and he took off his glasses to rub them.  
  
"I'm sorry, Teal'c," Daniel said, his voice cracking a little,"Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated on April 4th, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee."  
  
Teal'c looked taken aback. "But Daniel Jackson, you just described to me a man of great power, and a great leader to a great cause. Why would he be killed? Oh."  
  
The realization hit Teal'c full force, and he leaned back in his chair.  
  
"He's on the calender because the U.S. Congress in 1983 decided to make his birthday a national holiday. We celebrate his birthday the third Monday of January."  
  
Teal'c nodded, and thanked Daniel.  
  
"Is that all Teal'c?"  
  
"Yes, it is Daniel Jackson. You have explained a great many things to me, and I am most appreciative."  
  
"Sure, Teal'c. No problem. Any time."  
  
Daniel stood up, and put his hand on his alien friend's shoulder.   
  
"You going to be alright?"  
  
"Indeed."  
  
Daniel smiled and walked out of his room, leaving Teal'c in deep thought.  
  
~*~  
  
"What the heck is going on here?" General Hammond stood aghast in the doorway of the commissary.  
  
The entire room was decked out in balloons, streamers, and a large poster of Martin Luther King, Jr stood in the corner of the room. A table was loaded down with food, and in the center of the spread was a large cake reading,"Happy Birthday, Martin!" There was also a large banner reading the same saying across the room from the doorway.  
  
Jack, Sam, and Daniel turned as the General came in.  
  
"Sir! Glad you could make it," Jack smiled and pulled out a seat for the General.  
  
"What is going on here, Colonel?"  
  
"It's not Jack's fault this time, sir," Sam said, smiling at her CO.  
  
"Why can I not believe that?"  
  
"It was Teal'c's idea, General. He asked me about Martin Luther King, Jr, and I told him. He called me up a few minutes ago, and asked me to come to the commissary," Daniel turned to get confirmation from Jack and Sam. They nodded.  
  
Teal'c entered the room. He was dressed in a replica of the suit that Martin Luther had worn when he was assassinated.   
  
"Please be seated."  
  
Sam and Jack scrambled for the front row seats, pushing each other out of the way, only to end up being in the back. The room was packed with officers from the SGC, even airmen!  
  
Teal'c began to speak.  
  
"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.   
  
One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.   
  
"So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.   
  
"This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.   
  
"So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.   
  
"It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.   
  
"The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.   
  
"We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.   
  
"The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.   
  
"We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.   
  
"I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.   
  
"Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.   
  
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.   
  
"I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.   
  
"This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.   
  
"When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"  
  
The room was silent for about a half a second, and then such a deafening roar of voices and clapping that was never heard before filled the room. Everyone stood on their feet, as Teal'c took a bow, and stepped off stage. Jack, Sam, and Daniel rushed to give Teal'c big hugs. Teal'c stepped out of their warm embraces and turned to General Hammond.  
  
"Did you enjoy the speech, General Hammond?"  
  
"Damn right I did, son! I have never felt so proud in my entire life."  
  
General Hammond shook Teal'c's hand, and then they all went over to the rest of the SGC, who accepted them with open arms.  
  
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I actually researched this. The speech I copied off a website that I found, and Martin Luther's biography information came out of an encyclopedia. Please review and tell me what you thought of this story! 


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